IDFA Talks

In addition to numerous Q&As, where the audience can engage directly with the filmmakers, IDFA also hosts several Talks. Experienced moderators from the Netherlands and beyond interview filmmakers, and sometimes the subjects of the films, right after the screenings. In addition there are Filmmaker Talks: extended conversations with renowned filmmakers on their work.

Below is merely a selection of this year's Talks and Filmmaker Talks. For a complete overview, go to Program per day and check per screening if it is followed by a Talk.

Friday, November 21, 18:30, Tuschinski 4

Climate change and gold mining steadily erode the sources of life for the Indigenous and Maroon communities in Suriname. During a trip along the Maroni river we learn of the pressures they face and their resilience, evoked in stories and songs. Followed by an extended conversation with the filmmakers. 

Sunday, November 16, 13:45, Eye 1

Filmmaker Déni Oumar Pitsaev in conversation with film critic and curator Neil Young after the screening of Pitsaev's film Imago. When Pitsaev, who grew up in France, inherits a piece of land in the country of Georgia, it prompts a series of profound questions about life. A subtle, personal film that won the Best Documentary Award at Cannes. A conversation about belonging, identity, and transformation through Pitsaev’s personal and political approach to blending lived experience and imagination.

Tuesday, November 18, 15:15 uur, Eye 2

Filmmaker Sky Hopinka in conversation with curator and journalist Eric Hynes after the screening of Hopinka's film Powwow People. Hopinka, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, organized and filmed a powwow. In cinéma vérité style, he shows how this traditional singing and dancing event gives Native Americans a sense of the past, present, and future. Exploring the powwow as a space of community, continuity, and resistance, this talk will open up questions of representation, Indigenous futurity, and the creative and cultural processes behind Hopinka’s latest work.

Sunday November 16, 13:00, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Filmmaker Isabel Pagliai, director of Fantasy, in conversation with critic and cultural journalist Ela Bittencourt. In Fantasy, a young woman, held captive by something in her past, spends her time at home, lying in bed, listening to music, speaking to no one. Through her notes and innermost fantasies, a journey unfolds into her inner world. Followed by a discussion on inhabiting the porous space between documentary and dream, delving into working with form and feeling.

Saturday, 15 November, 15:15, Tuschinski 1

Filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei, co-producer Siavash Jamali, and artist-protagonist Soraya will have an extended conversation after the screening of A Fox Under a Pink Moon with critic and cultural journalist Ela Bittencourt. This discussion will explore the film’s collaborative authorship, the politics of representation, Soraya’s own powerful artistic vision, and on art as a form of self-determination.

Wednesday, 19 November, 17:00, Tuschinski 4

Filmmaker Marc Isaacs in conversation with film critic and writer Dana Linssen about his film Synthetic Sincerity. An examination of what happens to empathy and truth-telling in the age of artificial intelligence. Isaacs and Linssen will reflect on cinema’s evolving relationship with authenticity, performance, and the human face itself.

Tuesday, 18 November, 19:15, Tuschinski 4

Filmmaker Sergio Oksman in conversation with director and editor Qutaiba Barhamji about his film A Scary Movie. A discussion over the intimate filmmaking process behind the film, blending documentary and fiction through a father-son collaboration.

Monday, 17 November, 14:30, Eye 1

Filmmaker Ross McElwee in conversation with curator Maria Campaña Ramia about his film Remake. McElwee reflects on his decades-long practice of personal documentary filmmaking and how loss reshapes both memory and method. The discussion will touch on grief, legacy, and the evolving relationship between life and the camera.

Tuesday, 18 November, 17:00, Kriterion 1

Filmmakers Paula Ďurinová (Action Item), Firat Yücel and producer Aylin Kuryel (happiness) will be in conversation with film researcher and curator Nadica Denić. Together, their films open a dialogue about activism, solidarity, and the emotional toll of engagement in times of crisis.

In-depth conversation with IDFA's Guest of Honor 2025 Susana de Sousa Dias, on her highly acclaimed work that interrogates dictatorship, colonial legacies and the fragile terrain of memory. Moderated by IDFA’s Artistic Director, Isabel Arrate Fernandez.

Monday, 17 November 16:15, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Palestinian filmmaker and visual artist Kamal Aljafari in conversation with Dr. Nat Muller. Aljafari's cinema attempts to rewrite history and to imagine a liberated future.

Tuesday, 18 November 16:15, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Editor and filmmaker Mary Stephen (Palimpsest: The Story of a Name, IDFA 2025) interviewed by film critic Dana Linssen: about her work, which moves between personal recollection and collective history, investigating cultural identity, colonial heritage, and everyday life.

Wednesday, 19 November 16:15, Het Documentaire Paviljoen: De Spiegel

Filmmaker Stanley Nelson is being interviewed by director, producer and writer Roger Ross Williams. Together with Nicole London, Nelson directed We Want The Funk!. Expect an in-depth discussion of Nelson's career, which defines a legacy of chronicling the lives of Black Americans and the history of their struggle, resilience and emancipation.